Sad story: Notre Dame o-line signee dies after falling off hotel balcony

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If you do a quick Google search, you will find that spring breakers falling off hotel balconies actually occurs fairly commonly.
 


Plinnius said:
If you do a quick Google search, you will find that spring breakers falling off hotel balconies actually occurs fairly commonly.
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I know because a friend of the family died the exact same way.

It occurred in Mazatlan in 1999. He was a 19 yo college student that fell 6 stories to his death. He was obviously drunk at the time and was trying to climb down one level to join another group of kids.

The Mexican police treated it like it was a homicide investigation, which all witnesses said it wasn't. Their real goal was to get a substantial payment from the family to release the body so it could be brought back to the US. 3M (his father was a VP for the company) got involved and sent a team of lawyers to Mexico and it even went as far as the US embassy in Mexico. II don't remember exactly how long it took to get his body back home but I do know that the shakedown didn't work.
 

This guy was a big time recruit, choose Notre Dame over Ohio State and Florida. if you watched the Lemming signing day show, they had alot of stuff on James and where he would go. from reading some articles on the accident, sounds like a great kid with an extremely bright future. his best friend and teammate was also down there and was also a Notre Dame signee as a qb. I see alot of specualtion already on what caused the fall, alcohol, or just an accident, maybe kids just horsing around.
 



I know it could happen to anyone's kid and it is devastating to his family but I also don't think a high school kid spring breaking without his family or trusted adults staying with them is a good idea.
 

High schoolers on unsupervised, exotic, foreign Spring Break = put their parents in jail.
 




Studwell55 said:
High schoolers on unsupervised, exotic, foreign Spring Break = put their parents in jail.
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Very classy remark, but this time I'm not being sarcastic. Although from a practical point of view, by the time high school rolls around it's a bit late to get tough on parents who fool themselves into thinking teens need to make themselves into uncontrollable fools.
 

CINCINNATI -- A 17-year-old Notre Dame football recruit who was killed in a fall from a fifth-floor hotel balcony during his senior-year spring break in Florida was "drunk and belligerent," authorities said Saturday.

Matt James died Friday around 6:30 p.m. ET at the Days Inn Motel in Panama City Beach. He was dead when police arrived.

"It appears to be a tragic accident," Panama City Beach police Maj. David Humphreys said.

Police did not use James' name during a news conference. Instead, they referred to him as a 17-year-old from Ohio who had signed with Notre Dame.

"Witnesses and friends indicate he had become drunk and belligerent," Humphreys said. "He had leaned over the balcony rail, was shaking his finger at the people in the next room over. He fell over."

Humphreys said the railing at the hotel met the standards for proper height. He said police would be interested in pursuing charges if it was learned who provided the underage teen with alcohol.
 

God that's just soo sad...but you know you get wasted and parents are like whatever and let you go and let you do it and then sh*t like this happens. Idk it's just like well what do you think a 17 year old is gonna do when you send him off with a bunch of money on a big trip with all his friends. maybe next time somebody in this bunch of parents will think twice. Whoever gave him or the group the alcohol needs to be held criminally responsible.
 

Opinions aside, be they good or bad...This is an unfortunate situation. No one deserves to die like this, it is too bad. My sympathies to the family and friends of this young man.
 



bankonit said:
I know it could happen to anyone's kid and it is devastating to his family but I also don't think a high school kid spring breaking without his family or trusted adults staying with them is a good idea.
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It was amazing to me how many high school kids went on spring break without their parents when I lived in North Carolina. It was pretty common for kids to drive down to Florida for their break.
 

This is sad and wrong on so many different levels. While I feel horrible for the kid, this is totally on him - unless it is a rare time where they tied him down and forced alcohol down his throat. Shame on the parents (and all parents) who let kids in HIGH SCHOOL go to Spring Break.

No matter how you look at it, a young kid with his whole life ahead of him lost his life. Just a tragic event.
 

Shame on parents? I don't know anyone who didn't go on spring break and drink. If he was 21 would that make it better? It's just a tragic accident.
 

I Am Graduate Of St X HS

It's sad, tragic story but Matt James was old enough (1 week shy of 18) to know better.

Many (most) St X kids come from families who can afford spring break vacations.
 

Gophers507 said:
God that's just soo sad...but you know you get wasted and parents are like whatever and let you go and let you do it and then sh*t like this happens. Idk it's just like well what do you think a 17 year old is gonna do when you send him off with a bunch of money on a big trip with all his friends. maybe next time somebody in this bunch of parents will think twice. Whoever gave him or the group the alcohol needs to be held criminally responsible.
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His parents were in Cincinnati at the time. Reportedly the group had adult chaperones but none were present at the time of the fall.
 

Section2 said:
Shame on parents? I don't know anyone who didn't go on spring break and drink. If he was 21 would that make it better? It's just a tragic accident.
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While still in high school???
 



mkAz said:
Does that make it right?
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Right? No. We have a drinking culture if you didn't notice. It's completely ridiculous to think high school kids aren't going to drink or that we can control it. When people drink, the chances for them to do something dumb are magnified. It's a tragedy no doubt. I'm just amazed that people are shocked, SHOCKED that high school kids are drinking on spring break!
 



My reaction is the same as GophersInIowa's. Had I, at age 17, asked my parents to pay for me to go to Florida to party for spring break, the answer would have been, "Are you joking?"

It still seems insane to me now, but evidently not to some parents.
 

Section2 said:
Shame on parents? I don't know anyone who didn't go on spring break and drink. If he was 21 would that make it better? It's just a tragic accident.
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He WASN'T 21, he was 17. There is no way my parents would have let me go on spring break in high school. In fact, I wouldn't have even considered asking. I obviously don't know this family, so, what I'm going to state here is not meant directly at them, but rather at society. Too many parents now days want to be best friends with their children, instead of what they should be: loving authority figures.
 

GopherFan75 said:
Get out of the 1940's. Hundreds of kids at my school went on spring break without their parents.
And yes, they even drank alcohol:eek::eek:
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Oh yea, those dumb people from the 40's :rolleyes:. It's easy to make fun of the 40's and 50's, but I'd say they did a lot right back then. Were they perfect, of course not. But today's kid's are the off-spring of parents that grew up in the 60's and 70's. Free love and anything goes. I'm afraid we're seeing the by-product of this in many of today's kids. There is actually some wisdom people can get from previous generations.

From this link: http://www.babble.com/kids-cultural-influences-celebrity/

In his book The Mirror Effect: How Celebrity Narcissism is Seducing America, VH1’s celebrity addiction guru, Drew Pinsky, blames the fame epidemic on lackadaisical parenting. He argues that because of depression, alcohol and drug abuse, and focus on their careers, mothers don’t bond as well with their children as they did in the past, resulting in a generation of narcissistic children who think they deserve fame and fortune.

W. Keith Campbell, co-author of The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement, however, cites studies that show the opposite. According to him, the most narcissistic children are the progeny of so-called helicopter parents: moms and dads who think their children are gifted — as well as the self-esteem movement in schools. When we give out awards and medals to all children, not just those who make significant scholastic or athletic achievements, argues Campbell, then we are saying they don’t need to work hard to do well and master a skill. "Telling kids they are special means 'I am different and better than other people,'" he explains. "It makes them want attention."​

I think both are correct to some degree. I'm guessing these books are probably pretty good:
http://www.amazon.com/Mirror-Effect...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265388583&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Narcissism-Ep...UTF8&coliid=I3PK8DEVVY1079&colid=VK6TF5J74U7B
 

Section2 said:
Shame on parents? I don't know anyone who didn't go on spring break and drink. If he was 21 would that make it better? It's just a tragic accident.
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I am a 26 year old and three years removed from college. I maybe incredibly naive, but unless a lot has changed since I was a senior in high school 8 years ago (2002), not one of my friends or acquaintences went on a "Spring Break" trip.
 

Donovan said:
Oh yea, those dumb people from the 40's :rolleyes:. It's easy to make fun of the 40's and 50's, but I'd say they did a lot right back then. Were they perfect, of course not. But today's kid's are the off-spring of parents that grew up in the 60's and 70's. Free love and anything goes. I'm afraid we're seeing the by-product of this in many of today's kids. There is actually some wisdom people can get from previous generations.

From this link: http://www.babble.com/kids-cultural-influences-celebrity/

In his book The Mirror Effect: How Celebrity Narcissism is Seducing America, VH1’s celebrity addiction guru, Drew Pinsky, blames the fame epidemic on lackadaisical parenting. He argues that because of depression, alcohol and drug abuse, and focus on their careers, mothers don’t bond as well with their children as they did in the past, resulting in a generation of narcissistic children who think they deserve fame and fortune.

W. Keith Campbell, co-author of The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement, however, cites studies that show the opposite. According to him, the most narcissistic children are the progeny of so-called helicopter parents: moms and dads who think their children are gifted — as well as the self-esteem movement in schools. When we give out awards and medals to all children, not just those who make significant scholastic or athletic achievements, argues Campbell, then we are saying they don’t need to work hard to do well and master a skill. "Telling kids they are special means 'I am different and better than other people,'" he explains. "It makes them want attention."​

I think both are correct to some degree. I'm guessing these books are probably pretty good:
http://www.amazon.com/Mirror-Effect...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265388583&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Narcissism-Ep...UTF8&coliid=I3PK8DEVVY1079&colid=VK6TF5J74U7B
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+1
 

MNfootballfan said:
I am a 26 year old and three years removed from college. I maybe incredibly naive, but unless a lot has changed since I was a senior in high school 8 years ago (2002), not one of my friends or acquaintances went on a "Spring Break" trip.
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I am 34 and I don't recall any either and if there were it was very very rare. And I went to a private high school where money was not an issue for a vast majority of the families so it was not because of lack of money.
 

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